The 8-year-old from St. Johns will take a break from battling for her life to accompany Michigan State’s Adreian Payne for his senior day ceremony after the MSU-Iowa basketball game.

The article mostly centers around the amazing attitude with which she fights cancer.

When she goes to a game or dances or does something else outside of the hospital, Lacey often will tweet about it and add the hashtag #kissitcancer.

She kept building a bond with Payne, who has become like an adopted son to the Holsworths – Matt, Heather, Lacey, William (14), Mitchell (12) and Luke (6). She regained her ability to walk, returned to dancing and appeared to be past the disease in the fall.

But it came back in November and Lacey is now in the midst of 10 days of radiation treatments for spots on her jaw and neck. Chemotherapy was not working. She has another spot in her pelvic region, and the family hopes upcoming antibody therapy at U-M Hospital in Ann Arbor will “attack the cancer cells and build the immune system,” (her father) Matt said.

The article also mentions a fundraiser on Monday at the Buffalo Wild Wings in East Lansing. If you find yourself in that neck of the woods on Monday, I encourage you to stop in and support this cause.

There was an article in late 2012, I believe, about Payne's struggles with ADHD while in high school and how, once diagnosed, he took advantage of every service available to ensure his success. He talked about his experiences working with specialists and developing strategies so he could do his best, which shows he really does have a sincere love of learning and a great attitude towards it.

As I recall, his mother died when he was in his early teens as well and he was raised in part by his grandmother. I can't even imagine what that's like for someone still in their formative years.

Argh! I was very happy to hate Payne for playing for MSU and being a general bully on the court, and now you have to throw THIS at me? I can't hate a guy who does this kind of work off the court. So frustrating...

The complexity of human beings is a why this can be so hard to "like" or "dislike" a guy. On one hand, Payne does stuff like this and seems like an amazing guy. On the other hand, we have all of those accusations/issues stemming from the sexual assault claim that is being investigated that paints him in a different, far less flattering light.

I think we tend to forget that about athletes; we see one small part of them a couple of nights a week, but like us all they are complex and multi-layered. I guess it may be easier to just blanket love/hate certain people because of a small base of criteria, though that feels pretty hollow.

I didn't know that the speculation centered on him. I thought I read that there were four recruits in that class and one of the recruits was no longer with the team. I thought maybe there was a reason that one recruit was no longer with the team. Maybe it was a coincidence.

Its perfectly fine to dislike the guy as a basketball player and like the guy for what he does off the court. If your dislike for a basketball player is grounded in the entirety of his activities, you are overcomplicating the whole sports fan thing.

Every time i read an article or see a piece by ESPN or CBS on this beautiful little girl's fight and the love and support Payne provides to her an her family i just lose it. Tears every time. They are fighting a huge up hill battle and they all have such positive outlooks. I'm proud of Payne for being there for them through such a touch time. I just pray she wins this battle.

I take care of things like this by just doubling (or tripling, or quadrupling) my hate of Izzo. The Gary Harris story made me like him; now Payne's on my good-guy list.... but Izzo hate comes easy, and can grow to fill whatever space needed.

“Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either -- but right through every human heart -- and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained. And even in the best of all hearts, there remains ... an unuprooted small corner of evil."

good or evil. I think that's the point of the quote. While the "good" have better control over our evil intentions, the thoughts do run through our minds. What we might think is a harmless comment, it may be quite destructive to it's target. Evil isn't just physical.

And as someone who has been around far too many kids with cancer, my experience is there are some athletes/celebs who show up to help, and some athletes/celebs who show up to be seen helping. I think its more the former than the latter by a considerable bit - but there is an element that uses very sick children as a prop.

I have no idea whether Payne's motives in striking up this relationship are pure or not. But if you've been around this enough, you come to understand that there are varying motives for visiting these kids.

Not only Payne, but fuck that bow tie wearing bozo Stuart Dunnings too. He can't bring charges against these players, but he sure as hell can bring charges against a paranoid schizophrenic the was wrongly accused of murder; and aguably could have been coerced into to confessing to said crime.

Always thought Payne was a good dude. Love his demeanor on the court as well. Unlike his clown of a coach he is all business. With that being said, he looks pretty freaking weird. Keep up the good humanitarian effort Adriane!

This is as good as advertised. I have long known this family as I went to high school with this girls father - and in a day and age when athletes are over glorified and un-necessarily celebrated for things that every day people do, Adrien has taken it to the next level here and has set a great example for not only fellow athletes - but fellow humans to follow.

Payne's is certainly one of them. Lots of good guys on each team. Besides Craft, who is a good student and person, there aren't many individuals that I actively root against. Ok I forgot MSUs Bryd, but Stauskas bitch slapped him to the bench.

It's just a few whiney coaches that i can not stand. Izzo has passed Bo Ryan and is getting to Creanians height of ego maniac jerkiness. Saturday will be epic when Jeff Meyer can shake Crean's hand after we kick their behinds.

Beilein is the new standard of how to act on and off the court and how to teach the game's x's and o's. We are SO lucky to have John and this staff. They have recruited a whole team of quiet, intelligent players who are good people first, talented hoops players second.

Earlier this season The Journey did a really nice piece on the bond between Payne and Lacey. It was hard to hold back the tears. I hurt for any child having to go through cancer; it's absolutely one of the most unfair things in this world. I pray that Lacey is able to beat this horrible disease and live a long, prosperous life.

Ever notice how when we're on top of the mountain, suddenly all our enemies aren't so bad and we're much kinder/fonder of them than when they're curb stomping us and laughing about it? As a dude, Payne's OK, but as a basketball player who chose to play for Staee, eff Payne. But as always, eff paste-on-the-mouth Izzo more.

Yeah, this was huge last season and it is nice. I'm glad he's moved into positive things after a really questionable situation in his past that is unresolved. I don't know that I'm ready to crown him a humanitarian just yet though.

He was really let down this year by the offense state runs mixed with his injury. I think it's pretty strange that he doesn't see more looks but then again I think he's been playing with a lower tier point guard since he's been in school.

I believe this this was on the BTN show "The Journey" earlier this year. Just shows how little we truly know about the players we watch and that we should always pause before saying something about them.

Yes, Adrian Payne has a soft spot for a true hero fighting every day. It will be nice to cheer for him in about 6-7 weeks (well, actually 3 becasue I think State is going to flame out in the NCAA, but that is for another thread.......)

EDIT: Beaten to this. But the sentiment is the same. Very hard to show vengence to someone who "gets it".

I'm glad that Payne is a source of comfort for the girl. I do, however, prefer it when people do similar things behind the scenes. Sometimes when charitable actions get media attention it is for the explicit purpose of painting someone (or an institution) in a positive light. Not saying this is the case always or even in this case, but I know for a fact the U of M has charitable relationships between athletics and certain charitable causes. These individual stories rarely get air time beyond the personal interactions, and I'm fine with that.

My wife is a nurse on the oncology floor. She loves seeing her patients with the players on thursday nights. She usually can't identify who they are (they all are big guys (and gals)), but she noticed that it seems the football players are more active now, where the basketball players were more active in the fall.

Some of them have really great relationships with these kids and some appear to spend a lot of time with them, playing video games and whatnot.

I really think this is not always shown enough, but it is amazing the amount of time athletes put into hanging out with kids in Mott along with the hours they put into their respective sports and schooling.

Well we've opened the cover and read most of the book, aside from a few missing pages early on. But from the context of the pages before and after the missing pages, it's hard to call him a "good guy" he is exonerated.

The media has championed this cause for awhile now. While it is great that Payne is doing what he is doing with the little girl, I still think he should have never played a second in a Sparty uniform.

Whether he was the watcher or the person who committed the assault, both acts were wrong. Unlike the ND and the Michigan cases, there was a "smoking gun" in EL: the police report where one told police he watched the other commit sexual acts on a woman who "clearly wasn't into it."

Has anyone noticed that the recent "injuries" and bad play from both Payne and Appling have coincided with the federal investigation?

I have.

Maybe the bad guys don't always win.

Congrats to Payne for a sincere friendship. But it doesn't erase the past. It just shows that he is capable of compassion.

him and applying could get convicted of rape basically. not like jail time stuff but like gibbons. I remember the summer that happened it was spreading all over campus (I live 15 min from EL and was 22 at the time spending a lot of time at the bars).

Maybe it's because both are really good and the basketball fan in me enjoys watching them play (against other teams).

I certainly have never disliked them the way I despised players like Draymond Green and Derrick Nix. Excessive trash talk, arrogance, and a style of play I hated. Without B1G rules, Green and Nix were average players. Payne will be a better pro because he doesn't just rely on being physical. He can jump out of the gym, he can dribble, he can shoot the lights out.

I love watching the Golden State Warriors play but anytime Green steps on the floor I root for him to perform poorly.

i think they featured this during march madness last year. they do alot of those types of stories, but this one in particular was heart wrenching. she's the cutest girl with an amazingly positive outlook.

as i get older and turn into a softy, i appreciate hearing about athletes that use their celebrity for good. and the contrary is part of why i lose more interest in the nfl every year.

and come march madness, we'll hear about how so many schools have stories similar to this. the ncaa's are far from perfect, but when you hear these stories you know at least some of it is working right.